Tesla breaks into Consumer Reports’ top five car brands survey

Selling electric cars is a breeze for Tesla. Not so much for every other automaker.

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Tesla Motors, the youngest U.S. automaker, ranks in the top five brands among people surveyed by Consumer Reports

By Alan Ohnsman, Bloomberg

Originally published: February 5, 2014

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Tesla Motors, the youngest U.S. automaker, ranks in the top five brands among people surveyed by Consumer Reports, another accolade from the magazine that rates Tesla’s Model S among the best cars it’s ever tested.

Tesla was fifth in the poll, up from 11th last year, behind namesake brands of Toyota, Ford and Honda as well as General Motors’ Chevrolet, the Yonkers, New York-based magazine said Wednesday. The results are from a December survey of 1,578 vehicle owners asked to rank brand attributes including quality, safety, value, design and technology.

“Consumers are influenced by word of mouth, marketing and hands-on experience,” Jeff Bartlett, Consumer Reports deputy automotive editor, said in a statement. “Perception can be a trailing indicator, reflecting years of good or bad performance in a category, and it can also be influenced by headlines in the media.”

A surge in Tesla shares began in May, after the Palo Alto, Calif.-based company led by billionaire Elon Musk reported its first quarterly profit and Consumer Reports the next day gave the $71,000 battery-powered Model S a score matching the highest ever given to any vehicle. The magazine said in November that the Model S also topped its owner satisfaction poll, amid a review of the car by U.S. regulators after two crash-related battery fires.

The brand named for inventor Nikola Tesla got 88 points in the latest survey, up from 47 last year, ranking highly for “innovation, performance, and sleek styling,” Consumer Reports said. The company displaced Mercedes-Benz, which fell to seventh from fifth last year.

Toyota widened its lead in the survey, gaining five points to 145, to place ahead of Ford, which got 120, the magazine said. Honda slipped from second to third with 109 points, down 16 from a year ago, while Chevrolet gained 13 for a total of 105 points. Subaru rose to sixth in the survey with 87 points from 13th a year earlier, the magazine said.